PROJECT SUMMARY The Southwest Heath Equity Research Collaborative (SHERC) Research Infrastructure Core (RIC) is responsible for supporting SHERC and affiliated personnel to acquire, develop, implement and disseminate cutting-edge interdisciplinary research methods and emerging technologies for all SHERC projects and all community partners. The RIC will provide coordinated research design, methodological expertise, informatics, and statistical support for each of the SHERC cores and projects. The RIC will also provide research infrastructure support to community partners engaged in health equity collaborative research. The primary function of the RIC is to ensure the success of all of the SHERC projects and faculty by making scientific research design, methodological, and statistical resources available to investigators, trainees, faculty, and community partners, to address health disparities in our region. The aims of the RIC are to: (1) Support innovative acquisition and application of interdisciplinary and cutting-edge methods and emerging technologies for all SHERC cores, projects, programs, investigators, and community partners through NAU resources and (2) Enhance the quality and impact of biomedical, clinical, and behavioral research by providing external methodological expertise for SHERC investigators, projects and programs through collaborations with other NIH supported centers, RTRN institutions, and research partners. The RIC core resources include: 1) personnel with expertise in methods and statistics, research design, development, and computation/data analysis services for multidisciplinary health research projects and programs, 2) enhancement of core laboratory facilities that are dedicated to interdisciplinary research programs to address health disparities, 3) a rapidly developing health informatics infrastructure, and 4) a set of strong community partnerships that support the overall mission of SHERC.